And the options you got-- functional and aesthetic?
How did you decide to have a saddle built for you as opposed to buying a new or used one already born?
These are bad questions, coming from me.
My choice to go with a custom maker was made pretty easy by the breed of horse I have, so that decision was simple. In a nutshell, very little off the rack was going to fit a horse this wide and short backed, and I had lots of testimonials from other Icelandic owners bemoaning the near impossibility of fitting a treed western saddle to these horses.
As for what to go with, I knew I wanted a treed saddle, since I have no patience for treeless saddles or “flex tree” saddles.
I need a saddle I can go out and do a job on, and that required something that had a good horn. I don’t believe in hard-and-fast tying or rubber on the horn, and Im not a great roper, so it was going to be a large diameter horn.
I have a horse with a rain barrel shape, and thus needed to minimize leverage to keep the saddle on the side that rain hits, so it was going to be a wood post horn (since they can be built with thinner gullets).
Coming from an old-school dressage background, I wanted a slick fork saddle. I didn’t rely on knee rolls and thigh blocks back then, and I don’t need bucking rolls or swells now. I don’t pick up rides on broncy horses, in a nutshell. This plus the above pointed to a Wade fork.
Cantle-wise, I have a horse that likes to get out there and go, and my eye is drawn to older California style saddles, so I went with a 5" cantle with no Cheyenne roll, made fairly stood up.
Again with the dressage background, I wanted a centered seat with balanced stirrups. At first I ordered 2" wide monels, but found I preferred 4" ones eventually. The 4" ones allow you to ride a longer stirrup with much less weight in your feet, with little danger of ever losing a stirrup.
Went with a 6 button seat instead of an 8 button seat because the 6’s allow for better stirrup movement.
Went with a slick seat because I was told that they’re nicer to ride for long distances, and as long as the seat is shaped correctly, are as comfortable as padded seats. LIES, ALL LIES! If my horse is 100% okay and his little short back is loose and swinging, or if we’re just out covering country, it’s great. If I go to schooling and am not perfectly in sync with him, that saddle is brutally punishing. Next saddle will have at least a little padding.
Chose the saddlemaker I did because he did he own trees, and I had a lot of friends (and a mentor) who had ordered from the fellow with good results. He also had a carving style that I didn’t mind, and produced a balanced looking rig (LOTS of saddles have very odd lines, which the artist in me apparently isn’t a big fan of).
I was already spending a good chunk of change, so didn’t opt for any carving (didn’t want to clean it either). I asked for a full border stamped San Carlos pattern since I’ve always like that pattern, and the saddlemaker has a really nice custom stamp and runs it well (this is a pattern that often isn’t done well). The maker threw in a few carved leaves gratis, which I really appreciated (horn cap, breast collar attachments, cantle back)
I asked for a hobble carrier, but the saddlemaker forgot, and by the time it arrived I wasn’t in a mood to argue.
Saddle on arrival: http://www.easphotography.com/Tindur/KnightSaddle.jpg
Since then I’ve swapped out the back veg-tan cinch straps for latigo ones, and run alpaca cinches front and back. I also double-punched both sets of latigos, to allow finer adjustment.
I’m making my next saddle myself, but if I had to order one again, I’d get the tree done custom to my own specs, then send it to a custom maker to get the leather work done. That’s about a 1.5-2 year process for the folks I’d consider using.
What do these two things mean?
And mvp, perhaps you should join a support group! Maybe we all should!!! :lol:
[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;7169542]
What do these two things mean?[/QUOTE]
8 button or 8 string saddles have an extra concho/string on each side at the front of the seat, compared to most saddles that don’t have that anymore.
Saying that they limit stirrup swing is a generalization too. This one is fine:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NCVA1o-Wzps/ULz5qoqkp6I/AAAAAAAAAoM/9QcxC557kgE/s1600/IMG_1647.jpg
…but on this one, you can see how the stirrup wouldn’t have much forward swing: http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/9778/10587607_1.jpg?v=8CDF7BFB744EDB0
What part of the first line didn’t you understand? When I say monels, I mean monel-covered stirrups.
That implies that it’s a bad thing 
Aktill-- that was so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to type all that out.
And PP, the 6 vs 8 button was the one remaining question I had, too.
Done and done.
As far as this particular crack addiction goes, y’all must admit that it’s not terribly pernicious (except to my wallet.)
Right now, I live in Oregon and I have met some old skool saddle makers. For political reasons (among others), I’d like to send some money their way so that their craft doesn’t die.
We have several saddle makers here that are on their third and fourth generation, so they know what they are doing.
By the time you are ready for a saddle they make, you have ridden in their saddles enough to know what you want.
My ranch saddle, he ordered several trees and had me take some home to try on the horses themselves and see how I liked them.
I picked one, a ladies modified association #95 and he measured me and made a saddle that has fit every horse it was put on and my own bottom just fine, for many years.
Any western saddle is just not going to have the close contact many English saddles have, or the really loose swinging stirrups either, but those are trade-offs when you do need a western saddle.
I use my old 16" Stubben Rex when I don’t need a western saddle, like to start colts or ride horses that may pull something, the western one for the longer rides, as it spreads the weight better on a horse’s back over slow, long hours without much action.
For reining, I called Bob’s, talked to them, they suggested a Lady reiner, preferred by so many.
They made one for me, said send it back if you don’t like it, 100% guarantee money back, but it did fit like a glove.
They know what they are doing.:yes:
Ranch saddle:
In short, my saddlemaker is also my horsemanship/stockmanship mentor. He rode my horse in a saddle he made. We are a similar height/weight, and I rode the saddle as well.
I had an old, narrow 1940s George Lawrence that fit my narrow TB for about a year, and then my horse built muscle in his back and that saddle started soring the horse. (Another outstanding fitter/horse chiro had declared the saddle perfect for my horse, BTW.) The saddlemaker saw the fit problem develop very early on, so I avoided a big mess. So I had him order a tree to make me a saddle.
In the meantime, I rode a loaner that the saddlemaker had made for himself. He experimented with the ground seat, since his pelvis had changed a bit with age. His experiment made HIS butt miserable, but to me it was heaven. And apparently, to saddlemakers who cater to female anatomy, that ground seat should have been all wrong for a woman’s pelvis. But it wasn’t. There have been other gals sit in that saddle and it WAS all wrong, and other gals for whom the saddle was perfect.
That saddle, I also could do anything but jump over 2’6" in. I hadn’t before ridden in a western saddle that let me gallop in a stable 2-point, but that one did. And I’d have been able to jump higher if the stirrups could have been shortened another 2 inches, they just weren’t punched.
So, I had ridden in a saddle and found it to be fabulous, both for my butt and the horse’s back. The maker was close enough that we could do ‘model fittings’ as we went along, the tree went on the horse’s back ‘raw’ and I also sat/walked in it later when it had a seat but no stirrups or rigging.
I’ll post more later about the options I chose, and why.
I’m not giving out specifics on the interwebz for my saddlemaker, he isn’t in business to make money with his saddle shop. He makes two or three saddles a year at most, for himself or for friends. But if someone wanted to know specifics about the ground seat he made or something, I can share info by PM.
[QUOTE=aktill;7169615]
What part of the first line didn’t you understand? When I say monels, I mean monel-covered stirrups.
That implies that it’s a bad thing :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info on 8 vs. 6 - I get it now.
I don’t know what monel is / means…is it a type of hide?
I got my saddles from custom saddle makerd that my trainer uses. My trainer is real picky about his tack so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with his choices of makers. Love both of mine - a wade by Robert Chavez (traded a tractor for it! :D) and ranch cutter from Todd Jey (was pretty inexpensive as far as custom made went).
The wade is rough out with nothing fancy on it. Wanted it as working saddle and it’s that, but very comfy. Really love it.
The ranch cutter I got for reined cowhorse shows. It’s a whole different feel from the wade and I love it as well. It has some stamping on it (1/2 breed), Jeremiah Watt hardware, and nettle stirrups. Other than that, it’s plain. Don’t like alot of stuff on mine.
Monel is a type of metal used as a replacement for steel during WWII.
Any more, the wood stirrups are usually covered in stainless steel rather than monel, because SS is more resistant to scratching.
Other popular metal coverings are brass or copper.
The metal, as well as the wide bottom, makes for a heavier stirrup. The stirrups on my saddle are 4" tread wood, stained dark and made by Nettles. The wood will get scratched up by brush and such, but I’m not worried about the looks.
Now, ‘Monel’ seems to have taken on a new meaning, aka the ‘wide tread’ stirrups.
There are different styles of wide-tread stirrup- Visalia, Bell and Moran.
http://www.buckaroobusinesses.net/stirrups.html
and
http://fandeksaddlesandstirrups.com/stirrups.html
Well-made stirrups aren’t cheap. Covering them with shiny metal, tooled leather or a combination makes them more expensive. But the base stirrup under there, you want someone who knows how to make the tread level, that uses good quality oak (or other wood), etc.
I think some people unknowingly substitute ‘Monel’ for "Moran’. And while Monel is still available, lots of ‘monel’ stirrups are really stainless steel. Here’s a website advertising a brass bound ‘monel’ stirrup. Oops.
http://www.ajtackwholesale.com/stirrups/western/monel-wooden-bell-stirrups-5-extra-wide-solid-brass-hand-bound/?gclid=CKeu47bMxrkCFalAMgodkw0A3Q
It’s a brass bound MORAN stirrup.
